Saturday, July 21, 2012

I had the Holy Musical B@man soundtrack stuck in my head ALL DAY Thursday before watching the movie. It was hilarious how many of the jokes and themes from the play made appearances in the movie. Most relevant:

There was a 2-ish-minute stretch while Batman was chasing down Talia al Ghul where I completely spaced out and couldn't tell you what I'd just seen. Bleh. A bit is good but more than 30 seconds of people punching each other or shooting or whatever without breaks and my brain shuts off.

I didn't actually cry, but a lot of people in my theater did. I didn't believe for a second that he was really dead (I called 'everyone thinks he's dead but he's really alive and training the next generation like in The Dark Knight Returns' while my brothers and I were placing bets in line), but it was still a moving scene.

I looooved the movie. From the complaints I've heard from friends, it sounds like the main difference between us is that I WANT neat, happy endings. That's exactly what I like (Dickens fan!). The darker and more pessimistic the story, the more satisfying it is when I actually get a happy ending. And this was the neatest, happiest possible ending for the DARK GRITTY trilogy, so I was extremely satisfied.

Last, here are my notes from the premiere if you are interested. A lot of these got cut or altered on their way to the comics:

Friday, July 20, 2012

Periscope went to the Oregon Zoo on a life drawing trip Wednesday. I LOOOOVE our zoo life drawing trips! It's great practice, plus all of the usual fun you get at the zoo. Cute kids, cool animals, friends, walking around outside, and drawing. The best things.
You can see my sketches from our 2011 trip here.

This year I wasn't thrilled with my drawings--a lot of these felt like steps backwards--but there were a couple I was really happy with. We might be going again next month, and if we do I plan to spend a longer period of time with fewer animals, so I can actually nail down their constructions.

New Facepalm French Adventure:
I've been studying French for a year and a half now. My mom and I recently discovered the podcast Coffee Break French, and it's been a really wonderful supplement to our class. It makes me think in French for 30-60 minutes a day (I usually listen to one lesson on my way to work and one on the way home), which has helped me gain some more confidence to speak in class. I definitely notice that words and sentences come to me more quickly since I started listening a few weeks ago.
And this has nothing to do with anything, but Mark and Anna's Scottish accents are so cuuute!

The big SDCC news for me this weekend was Oni Press's announcing my book with Jamie Rich, A Boy and a Girl. I believe there will be more news at NYCC in October. Here are some of the teasers you may have seen me post over the last year and a half:

In totally unrelated news, here are some animal sketches I did this weekend: